Sergey Nazarovych Bubka (Ukrainian: Сергій Назарович Бубка; Serhiy Nazarovych Bubka; born 4 December 1963) is a former Ukrainian pole vaulter. He represented the Soviet Union until its dissolution in 1991. Bubka was twice named Athlete of the Year by Track & Field News,[3] and in 2012 was one of 24 athletes inducted as inaugural members of the International Association of Athletics Federations Hall of Fame.[4]
Bubka won six consecutive IAAF World Championships, an Olympic gold medal, and broke the world record for men's pole vault 35 times.[5] He was the first pole vaulter to clear 6.0 meters and 6.10 meters.[6][7]
He held the indoor world record of 6.15 meters, set on 21 February 1993 in Donetsk, Ukraine[8] for almost 21 years until France's Renaud Lavillenie cleared 6.16 meters on February 15, 2014, at the same meet in the same arena.[9] He held the outdoor world record at 6.14 meters between July 31, 1994,[10] and September 17, 2020.[11]
Bubka is Senior Vice President of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), serving since 2007, and served as President of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine from 2005 to November 2022. He is also an Honorary Member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), having been involved since 1996. His older brother, Vasiliy Bubka, was also a medal-winning pole vaulter.
Born in Luhansk, Sergey Nazarovych Bubka was a track-and-field athlete in the 100-meter dash and the long jump, but became a world-class champion only when he turned to the pole vault. In 1983, he won the world championship in Helsinki, Finland, and the following year set his first world record, clearing 5.85m (19 ft 2 in). Until the dissolution of the USSR in late 1991, Bubka competed for Soviet teams. By 1992, he was no longer bound to the Soviet system, and signed a contract with Nike[12] that rewarded each world record performance with special bonuses of $40,000.[13]
His son, Sergei Bubka (tennis) is a professional tennis player.
From 2002 to 2006, Bubka was a member of the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada with the Party of Regions group and until 2014 an advisor to Viktor Yanukovych.[14] He was on the youth policy, physical culture, sport and tourism committee while a MVR.[15]
Bubka has been linked to business conducted in Ukraine’s Russian-occupied territories. On 5 March 2022, Bubka professed his love for his homeland after the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, and declared: "Ukraine will win".[16]
Sergey Bubka started competing on the international athletics scene in 1981 when he participated in the European Junior Championship finishing seventh. But the 1983 World Championship held in Helsinki was his actual entry point to the world athletics, where a relatively unknown Bubka snatched the gold, clearing 5.70 meters (18 feet 8 inches). The years that followed witnessed the unparalleled dominance of Bubka, with him setting new records and standards in pole vaulting.
He set his first world record of 5.85m on 26 May 1984 which he improved to 5.88m a week later, and then to 5.90m a month later. He cleared 6.00 meters (19 feet 8 inches) for the first time on 13 July 1985 in Paris.[7] Bubka improved his own record over the next 10 years until he reached his career best and the then world record of 6.14 m (20 feet 13⁄4 inches) in 1994. He vaulted on UCS Spirit poles throughout his later career.[17][18]
He became the first athlete ever to jump over 6.10 meters, in San Sebastián, Spain in 1991. Bubka increased the world record by 21 centimeters (8 inches) in the period from 1984 to 1994. He cleared 6.00 meters or better on 45 occasions.[19]
Bubka officially retired from pole vault in 2001 during a ceremony at his Pole Vault Stars meeting in Donetsk.[20]
The first Olympics after Bubka's introduction to the international athletics was held in 1984 and was boycotted by the USSR along with the majority of other Eastern Bloc countries. In 1988 Bubka competed in the Seoul Olympics and won his only Olympic gold medal clearing 5.90 meters. In 1992 he failed to clear in his first three attempts (5.70, 5.70, 5.75 meters) and was out of the Barcelona Olympics. At the Atlanta Olympics in 1996, a heel injury caused him to withdraw from the competition without any attempts. In 2000 at the Sydney Olympics, he was eliminated from the final after three unsuccessful attempts at 5.70 meters.[21]
Bubka won the pole vault event in six consecutive IAAF World Championships in Athletics in the period from 1983 to 1997:
| Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Winning height |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | World Championships | Helsinki | 1st | 5.70 m (18 ft 8+7⁄16 in) |
| 1987 | World Championships | Rome | 1st | 5.85 m (19 ft 2+5⁄16 in) |
| 1991 | World Championships | Tokyo | 1st | 5.95 m (19 ft 6+1⁄4 in) |
| 1993 | World Championships | Stuttgart | 1st | 6.00 m (19 ft 8+1⁄4 in) |
| 1995 | World Championships | Gothenburg | 1st | 5.92 m (19 ft 5+1⁄16 in) |
| 1997 | World Championships | Athens | 1st | 6.01 m (19 ft 8+5⁄8 in) |
Bubka broke the world record for men's pole vault 35 times during his career.[5] He broke the outdoor world record 17 times and the indoor world record 18 times. Bubka lost his outdoor world record only once in his career. After Thierry Vigneron, of France, broke his record on August 31, 1984 at the Golden Gala international track meet in Rome, Bubka subsequently reclaimed the record on his next attempt on the same runway minutes later.[22]
| Height | Date | Place |
|---|---|---|
| 6.14 m (20 ft 1+3⁄4 in) | 31 July 1994 | Sestriere |
| 6.13 m (20 ft 1+5⁄16 in) | 19 September 1992 | Tokyo |
| 6.12 m (20 ft 15⁄16 in) | 30 August 1992 | Padua |
| 6.11 m (20 ft 9⁄16 in) | 13 June 1992 | Dijon |
| 6.10 m (20 ft 3⁄16 in) | 5 August 1991 | Malmö |
| 6.09 m (19 ft 11+3⁄4 in) | 8 July 1991 | Formia |
| 6.08 m (19 ft 11+3⁄8 in) | 9 June 1991 | Moscow |
| 6.07 m (19 ft 11 in) | 6 May 1991 | Shizuoka |
| 6.06 m (19 ft 10+9⁄16 in) | 10 July 1988 | Nice |
| 6.05 m (19 ft 10+3⁄16 in) | 9 June 1988 | Bratislava |
| 6.03 m (19 ft 9+3⁄8 in) | 23 June 1987 | Prague |
| 6.01 m (19 ft 8+5⁄8 in) | 8 June 1986 | Moscow |
| 6.00 m (19 ft 8+1⁄4 in) | 13 June 1985 | Paris |
| 5.94 m (19 ft 5+7⁄8 in) | 31 August 1984 | Rome |
| 5.90 m (19 ft 4+5⁄16 in) | 13 July 1984 | London |
| 5.88 m (19 ft 3+1⁄2 in) | 2 June 1984 | Paris |
| 5.85 m (19 ft 2+5⁄16 in) | 26 May 1984 | Bratislava |
| Height | Date | Place |
|---|---|---|
| 6.15 m (20 ft 2+1⁄8 in) | 21 February 1993 | Donetsk |
| 6.14 m (20 ft 1+3⁄4 in) | 13 February 1993 | Lievin |
| 6.13 m (20 ft 1+5⁄16 in) | 22 February 1992 | Berlin |
| 6.12 m (20 ft 15⁄16 in) | 23 March 1991 | Grenoble |
| 6.11 m (20 ft 9⁄16 in) | 19 March 1991 | Donetsk |
| 6.10 m (20 ft 3⁄16 in) | 15 March 1991 | San Sebastián |
| 6.08 m (19 ft 11+3⁄8 in) | 9 February 1991 | Volgograd |
| 6.05 m (19 ft 10+3⁄16 in) | 17 March 1990 | Donetsk |
| 6.03 m (19 ft 9+3⁄8 in) | 11 February 1989 | Osaka |
| 5.97 m (19 ft 7+1⁄16 in) | 17 March 1987 | Turin |
| 5.96 m (19 ft 6+5⁄8 in) | 15 January 1987 | Osaka |
| 5.95 m (19 ft 6+1⁄4 in) | 28 February 1986 | New York City |
| 5.94 m (19 ft 5+7⁄8 in) | 21 February 1986 | Inglewood |
| 5.92 m (19 ft 5+1⁄16 in) | 8 February 1986 | Moscow |
| 5.87 m (19 ft 3+1⁄8 in) | 15 January 1986 | Osaka |
| 5.83 m (19 ft 1+1⁄2 in) | 10 February 1984 | Inglewood |
| 5.82 m (19 ft 1+1⁄8 in) | 1 February 1984 | Milan |
| 5.81 m (19 ft 3⁄4 in) | 15 January 1984 | Vilnius |
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Bubka gripped the pole higher than most vaulters to get extra leverage, though Bubka himself played down the effect of grip alone.[23]
His development of the Petrov/Bubka technical model is also considered a key to his success. [24] The Petrov/Bubka model allows the vaulter to continuously put energy into the pole while rising towards the bar.[citation needed] Most conventional models focus on creating maximum bend in the pole before leaving the ground, by planting the pole heavily in the pole vault box. The Petrov/Bubka model follows the technique used by Kjell Isaksson,[25][26][27][28] which concentrates on driving the pole up, rather than bending it while planting it on the landing pad, combined with high running speed. While the traditional models depended on the recoil by bending the pole, the Petrov/Bubka model may exploit the recoil of the pole and exert more energy on the pole during the swinging action.[citation needed]
